Around the time I was wandering the hall of DWA's Lakeside building today, Jeffrey Katzenberg was on the phone about DreamWorks Animation's March movie release in three dimensions:
QUESTION: Do you think you're going to be able to hold onto the majority of your 3-D screens post the release of "Clash of the Titans?"
RESPONSE: So, on the 3-D screens issue, again I think ultimately it becomes the playability of the movies. We will have a very, very strong 3-D platform, to launch "Dragons" on. In particular, we have an exclusive arrangement for the vast majority of Imax screens. The only ones that are excluded are some of the ones that are in the educational market. And so, that platform is exclusive to us for a six-week run ...
How to Train Your Dragon will have a big opening if staffers opinions of the movie are right, because most people I've talked to really like the picture.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.
But Dragon is done. The focus of the board artists, animators, layout artists and surfacers I talked to today is now elsewhere.
"We're well into Kung Fu Panda: the Kaboom of Doom. We've got five sequences in work. There's still way more to do than we've already done, but it's moving right along ..."
I got a look at footage for DWA's Fall release Megamind, and the stuff looks good. Funny characters and attitudes abound. (Sadly, I didn't see enough to know how the picture fits together, so don't ask.) The animator who showed me said: "I think this feature is going to surprise people. It's witty and has lots of funny sequences and bits."
And a Puss in Boots story artist says story development has been robus. So robust that it's jumped ahead of another picture, coming out in 2011.
But don't think everybody is 100% satisfied. A development guy crabbed how the company needs more projects in work to keep the production pipeline filled. "There's a lot of movies going on here, but I think there should be more small teams taking properties the company owns, that are just sitting around, and seeing what they can do with them. Just throw up an outline board and see if it works. If it doesn't, move on to the next. If we're going to get up to three pictures a year and stay there, we're going to need more development."
But most aren't complaining. As a long-time employee said as I was walking out: "For me, there's always a picture to jump onto, always some kind of work. I like knowing I've got a job to come to."
Add On: DreamWorks Animation, in case you were wondering, had a pretty okay fourth quarter, business-wise:
... Reporting its fourth-quarter income for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009, DreamWorks reported full-year revenue of $725.2 million and a profit of $151 million – up 12 percent and 10 percent respectively – driven by films including “Monsters vs. Aliens.” The company beat fourth quarter revenue forecast with $194.2 million. ...
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17 comments:
Wow, if employees at Dreamworks feel like there should be more development going on, I can see why people are fleeing Disney.
Just HAVING a full slate doesn't guarantee that it'll be successful--
"Dragon" at least looks visually stylized...But "Panda" (which I didn't particularly find as "unique" as the audience did) has overblown fan memories to live up to, "Puss" is coming in late to Shrek's farewell party, and what's been leaked of "Mega"'s plot plays on DW autopilot without MvA's hip/charm.
Don't count your balloons before they pop.
Just HAVING a full slate doesn't guarantee that it'll be successful
The geniuses that post here! Such insights. So prescient! Thank you, thank you, thank you for clarifying this mystery for us all.
Say what you will about DreamWorks, there's a good deal of creative energy present there. You can feel it when you visit the studio.
Keep 'em coming, Jeffrey.
I don't really like their films, to be honest... no matter how many they pump out, I won't forget the hard time I had sitting through Madagascar, Shrek 2 (never seen 3) and Monsters vs Aliens... Kung Fu Panda was ok... but I didn't think it was all that special, it still missed the heart imo
I guess with have no specific house style and all their films being stylistically generic, there's no fear of oversaturating the market.
""Panda" (which I didn't particularly find as "unique" as the audience did) has overblown fan memories to live up to"
Gotta disagree... Just watched it the other day and it still holds up well on both design and story. (and I usually hate Dreamworks movies)
I guess with have no specific house style and all their films being stylistically generic, there's no fear of oversaturating the market.
Nahh, not a chance in the world...Heck, who DOESN'T like seeing the same film twice a year for six years? ;)
Just watched it the other day and it still holds up well on both design and story. (and I usually hate Dreamworks movies)
Kept hearing praise about the action scenes, and that the Asian-stylized 2-D "prologues" at least looked unique for the studio--
But I personally didn't get all huggily about the character, since DW's sitcom tastes are so focused on "gags", we never know WHY we should stick up for our zero-to-hero: The other characters certainly hate him, but with so much focus on hip-gag loser-comedy, -we're- never effectively persuaded why not to wish he'd just go away either.
DW tries to live up to their one house name of being unemotionally hip about stunt-cast big-salary comic names, which just doesn't seem to be in fashion these days as it used to.
I used to agree with most of the comments here. I didn't care for Dreamworks style, or humor. Until I made a pretty nasty comment about DW to an artist who worked there. I am too embarrassed to repeat the comment, but I will give you his response "Many people go to the theater to have fun, shut their brain off and forget about the world. Not everything has to be intellectual and high brow."
All of this sour-grapes flaming about the quality of DW product is getting old and tiresome. It's also beside the point. Q: You know what I think of Dreamworks' films? A: Who gives a shit? No one ever likes all of the films produced by a particular studio, or even their own favorite director. The point is, from a labor point of view, (and this IS a labor blog, not "At the Movies"), that DW is doing a lot of important things right which should serve as an example for other studios; they keep their people employed and engaged. More importantly, treating their employees well has not damaged or undermined their success in any way- bingo!
I agree with Steven. I've worked at a lot studios in town including Disney Feature. I can honestly say that no studio even comes close to treating their employees like DW does. Bonuses, committed employment (contracts)... that isn't everything but I'd love even ONE of those things at some point in my carreer.
Say all you want about Jeffery's filmmaking taste, but he knows how to treat people right and that goes a long way!
This is all so, so ludicrously off.
I guess it's impossible to turn around the prevailing attitude among diehards where Dreamworks is concerned but I have zero respect for anyone, from anywhere who "reviews" films based on a bunch of weary old memes. Really. Come on.
It's one thing to bash DW's movies (which is unfortunately easy), but on a labor blog, there IS a point to taking audience dissatisfaction into account:
For all the disingenuous cheering section of "Katzenberg is good and popular and hiring, and Lasseter is bad and icky and fires everyone!", there is also that other reality-check side of the coin--The money to hire all those good, sweet people comes from the AUDIENCE, and the audience, as we seem to be hearing, is rapidly disappearing, unless DW starts changing its style to keep up with it. Which JK doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do.
Some here might not mind studio-hopping for the creative challenge, but for those who look for a long-term gig...DW might not be as long a gig as even they'd like to think.
Which brings back to that point about "Every studio has a smash-hit on Thursday morning..."
"For all the disingenuous cheering section of "Katzenberg is good and popular and hiring, and Lasseter is bad and icky and fires everyone!"...
What the eff are you TALKING about? "Disingenuous"? Who are you presuming to judge a liar?
It's not "disingenous" cheering--it's legitimate, for-a-real-reason-not-because-were-brainwashed cheering, idiot.
JK isn't my pal, he's not even my direct boss. He DID build and runs the studio, Dreamworks Animation, which is the largest INDEPENDENT feature animation studio in the country and also one of the most successful. For a REASON.
..."and the audience, as we seem to be hearing, is rapidly disappearing, unless DW starts changing its style to keep up with it. Which JK doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do."
You have no idea what "JK" is doing or has done. You have no clue whatsoever what you're talking about. None. nada. You know diddly squat. Your low opinions aren't FACTS.
The audience is "disappearing"? Would that be in your basement, just in L.A. or around the world?
What an ass!
The money to hire all those good, sweet people comes from the AUDIENCE, and the audience, as we seem to be hearing, is rapidly disappearing, unless DW starts changing its style to keep up with it. Which JK doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do.
For the record, I don't work for Dreamworks, I work for one of their competitors. But that comment is so unbelievably stupid, that it bears pointing out that there are some people reading this blog who really, really shouldn't be posting. No, really.
This is a blog for animation professionals. Not silly fans of animation. If you're just a silly animation fan, without a clue about the business, you don't belong here. Perhaps you should post on Animation Nation instead. That's a fan club site for animation fans, where you'll be more at home.
But since the person who made this comment is so utterly ignorant, I will at least fill them in on this little fact--Dreamworks, far from losing its audience, is enjoying hit after hit. There is no sign of decline at all. "Dragon", by all indications, looks to be yet another massive hit.
As Twain said, "'Tis better to be silent and thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
There are three words to be said for DW having its "best years ever":
The first two being "Box office", and "Shrek", the third. :)
And while it's true that Monsters vs. Aliens did some of their best business this year, the majority of audience buzz--even among lifelong DW haters--seemed to be that, like Panda, it was "better" for being "different than" most DW films, unquote...
"Different" in what way, exactly?--That we had any sympathy or feeling for the characters? That it had an upbeat note? Just like the Pixar movies those audience members usually went to?
Disney and Pixar get their audience identification from having a house brand; DW's problem, which they may face, is that they DO appear to have a "house brand", and only find success when they get away from it.
While DW may not have the most inspired stories or appealing characters, I've heard that the studio is a treat to work at. Free meals, sweet benefits, stable jobs, laid back atmosphere and a spanking newish campus make it sound fairly appealing.
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